


Therianthropy

by akamine_chan



Category: Bandom, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Alternate Universe - Shapeshifters, Community: anon_lovefest, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-07
Updated: 2011-06-07
Packaged: 2017-10-20 05:21:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/209185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akamine_chan/pseuds/akamine_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikey can smell the desperation and Pete's need to let go.  It's bad, the worst he's ever seen Pete, and he's seen Pete at rock bottom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Therianthropy

**Author's Note:**

> Written nonanonymously for the LJ community anon_lovefest.
> 
> Unbeta'd. Caters to my total and newly discovered taking-care-of-Pete kink.
> 
> Prompt: Pete/Patrick or Pete/Mikey/Alicia, shapeshifter!Pete (angst, fluff, freak outs, I don't care, I just want this badbadbad.)

When he gets home, Mikey can feel something in the air, something hungry and barely leashed. It's so strong it's a physical force and it rocks him back on his heels a little. His heart stutters; he opens his mouth and inhales deeply. He can taste Pete, and Alicia.

In the living room, he finds Alicia in the corner of the couch, Pete curled up and huddled with his head in her lap. She's petting him and crooning nonsense to him, her voice quiet and soothing.

From Pete, there's the strong smell of fear and anger and self-disgust, mixed together into an unpleasant pheromone cocktail that makes Mikey want to retch.

These last few months had been rough on Pete, between the divorce and everything else, and Pete'd been mostly absent from their lives. _Avoiding us_ , Alicia muttered angrily. Maybe so, but Mikey figured that they'd give Pete all the time he needed. He'd come to them when he was ready.

Or when he was forced to.

He moves over to the couch, setting his bag down and sliding under Pete's legs, slipping his hand up one pant leg to touch Pete's ankle, needing to _connect_ with him, skin-to-skin. Mikey can smell the desperation and Pete's need to let go. It's bad, the worst he's ever seen Pete, and he's seen Pete at rock bottom.

Pete is shivering, a rolling, constant tremor and his skin is burning hot. "How long since he Changed?" he asks Alicia, wrapping his fingers around Pete's foot and holding on.

She shrugs, an elegant motion. "He won't say."

Too long, then. Mikey turns Pete onto his stomach and crawls on top of him, pressing down, trying to smother the trembling. He can feel Pete's panicked breathing and racing heartbeat, and Pete's so fucking hot that the sweat should be pouring off of him. But it's not.

He leans down to whisper in his ear. "Pete—Pete, listen to me. We're gonna take care of you, me and Alicia, okay. We've got you, we've got you."

Pete wasn't like Alicia and him, hadn't been born to the Change. Pete had been a scene kid in a Chicago alleyway who'd gotten himself mauled by a Shifter. Mikey had seen pictures of the damage, long since smoothed over, and theorized a bear or maybe a lion. Pete just shrugged, unwilling to talk about it. It hadn't mattered to him in the long run.

Like called to like and Pete had found Alicia first, met his match in her fierce dark eyes and lush mouth. She took him hunting and showed him how to run free under the stars.

Alicia and Pete met Mikey later and they loved him. They fought over him, with words and claws and teeth, until he appeared in their midst and demanded their submission.

Alicia and Mikey taught Pete that even those not born to the Change could still be _pack_ , taught him to be proud of what he was. They made a home together, and made a life for themselves, together. _Pack_.

And then Pete met Ashlee. Mikey and Alicia didn't begrudge him happiness, just warned about how difficult it was for the Changed and the Normal to be together. Pete and Ashlee would either make it or not; there was nothing Mikey or Alicia could say that would change Pete's mind, because Pete was desperately in love. They understood that, though Alicia did threaten to disembowel Ashlee if she hurt Pete. Pete thought she was kidding; Mikey knew she wasn't.

Mikey suspects that Pete hasn't Changed since the divorce became final, putting it off, making himself suffer, tormenting himself. Pete is not the calmest person to begin with and putting off the Change would only make it worse, drawing the tension tighter and tighter and tighter until Pete was probably climbing the walls, screaming with the need to shed his human skin for something with fur and claws and big golden eyes.

Deliberately, Mikey nuzzles the back of Pete's neck before biting down, hard. Pete cries out and under him, he can feel Pete's entire body come to attention, focused completely on him. It has nothing to do with sex and everything to do with being Alpha, but still, he can smell how hard Pete is. “Going to take care of you, Pete. Trust me.” And slowly, Pete nods.

Mikey takes them out to a safe place, one filled with wild deer and elk, a place where they can run free and not worry about distraught suburbanites or careless cars. He and Alicia drape a blanket around Pete's shaking shoulders and help him out of the car. They throw the blanket on the ground and quickly start stripping off Pete's clothes; they can feel his Change in the air, building momentum.

Once Pete's naked, Mikey shoves him down to his knees and fists a handful of his dark hair, pushing at Pete's external shape with his power, trying to force out his internal animal form. Pete resists and fights him, screaming, hovering on the knife-edge of Change, the pain digging deep and making him feel again, reminding him that he's alive, that he _didn't_ die when Ashlee walked away.

Alicia grabs Pete's shoulders and squeezes hard. “We're here for you, Pete. Let go, just fucking let go!”

Pete throws his head back and shouts at the sky and Mikey _reaches_ and _twists_. Suddenly it's happening; Pete can't stop the Change and it's an agony of relief, letting go of his human skin, feeling it melt away. His bones and muscles shift and he lands hard on his hands and knees, growling. It's over as quickly as it started and he leans against Mikey's knee, panting.

As beautiful as Pete is in human form, dark and compact, tattoos like modern arabesques on his body, he's absolutely gorgeous like this, 150 pounds of lean muscled black leopard, velvet-furred and big-pawed. He yawns and shows off his teeth, and Alicia laughs. “All the better to eat you with, my dear,” she singsongs.

Tugging on a furry ear, Mikey nudges Pete in the side with his leg. “Go. We'll catch up in a bit.”

Pete sneezes and lopes off into the darkness, longlong tail lashing gently. “Stay out of trouble,” Mikey calls after him, holding out a hand to Alicia. “You ready?”

Alicia smiles at him and presses a kiss to his lips before Changing. Her Change tugs on Mikey's animal-self, coaxing it out to play and it only takes a second for him to join her, two sleek, predatory panthers disappearing after their mate in the night.

-fin-


End file.
